Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Investigating Cathode Dissolution By Homogenous Sol-Gel Coating On Manganese Dioxide Nanofibers To Extend Battery Performance, Milan Haddad

Symposium of Student Scholars

The cathode dissolution is a known phenomenon for manganese dioxide (MnO₂) based cathode materials in both aqueous and non-aqueous batteries. Upon battery discharge, reduced Mn³⁺ species disproportionate (2Mn³⁺→ Mn⁴⁺ + Mn²⁺) and Mn²⁺ dissolves into the electrolyte causing the loss of active material. While MnO₂ is a promising cathode for rechargeable aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIB) due to its availability and low toxicity, the electrochemical performance is limited during battery cycling due to the dissolution of the cathode. In this work, a homogeneous sol-gel SiO₂ coatings with various thicknesses …

Finding Similar Stocks By Detecting Cliques In Market Graphs, Sudhashree Sayenju

Symposium of Student Scholars

The stock market provides an abundant source of data. However, when the amount of raw data becomes overwhelming it grows increasingly difficult to know how the stocks interact with each other. Stock data visualization as a market graph serves as one of the most popular way of summarizing important information. When modelling the data as a graph, vertices correspond to stocks and edges correspond to strong correlation in their pricing in a certain period of time. This project presents a technique to find stocks that behave very similarly. Such information helps investors make decisions on which stocks to purchase next. …

Probing Structure And Energetics Of Proton-Bound Complexes N2…Hco+ And N2h+…Oc Using Computational Chemistry Methods, Antonio Barrios, Dalton Boutwell, Onyi Okere, Monique Olocha, Oluwaseun Omodemi, Alexander Toledo, Antonio Barrios

Symposium of Student Scholars

N₂…HCO⁺ and N₂H⁺…OC are predicted to exist in interstellar clouds. These complexes involve HCO⁺ and N₂H⁺ fragments that are bound to N₂ and CO, respectively using hydrogen-bonded interaction. The reason these molecules are important is that the existence of nitrogen can be measured indirectly through ion-molecular complexes studied in this work. The measured vibrational spectra of molecules is an excellent way to characterize and detect molecules. We used B3LYP, MP2, and CCSD(T) computational methods to predict the structure and vibrational frequencies of N₂…HCO⁺ and N …

Theoretical Study On The Isomerization And Detection Of N2h+…Oc Complex In Interstellar Clouds, Dalton Boutwell, Martina Kaledin

Symposium of Student Scholars

In this study, we characterize N₂H⁺…OC linear complex using Driven Molecular Dynamics (DMD) and Vibrational Self-Consistent Field Theory (VSCF) methods due to its relevance in astrochemistry. A central challenge is the detection of the molecular complex in interstellar media (ISM). Computational chemistry approaches can predict vibrational spectra, hence facilitate prediction of its existence and stability in the ISM. N₂H⁺…OC involves the proton transfer process via hydrogen bonding interaction. Proton motion is highly anharmonic, therefore facing a significant challenge to characterize it accurately. Quantum mechanical variational methods are popular among many theoretical chemists …

The Relationship Of Delivery Method, Birth Weight And Race On Infant Mortality, Anjie Adeyemo

Symposium of Student Scholars

Infant mortality is defined as the number of deaths per 1000 births. The U.S. infant mortality rate in 2014 was reported as 5.8 deaths per 1000 births which is very high compared to other countries such as Japan where the rate 2.1 deaths per 1000 births. The leading causes of infant death are congenital malformations, SIDS, low birthweight, pre-term births and maternal complications. For this project, I will analyze birthweight in addition to other factors related to infant death. My research aims to see how the factors of delivery method, birthweight, and race influence infant mortality to see how it …

Activated Carbon Pore Expansion Using Acidic Hydrothermal Method, Max Thompson

Symposium of Student Scholars

Petroleum Coke is a widely abundant, high carbon content material produced as a byproduct of the oil refining process. Its abundance makes the price per ton low and it is produced in almost all regions of the world. Due to the low price and high carbon percentage, commercial companies make large amounts of activated carbon using petroleum coke as a precursor. These activated carbons are characterized by their high surface area and can achieve widely varying pore morphology with different activation processes. The goal of this work is to achieve a homologous mesopore activated carbon material for use in super …

Solid-State Redox Synthesis Of Layered Birnessite-Type Manganese Dioxide (Δ-Mno2) As Aqueous Supercapacitor Electrodes, Armando Rodriguez Campos

Symposium of Student Scholars

Nanostructured manganese dioxides are attractive cathode materials in aqueous supercapacitors due to their low cost, environmental benign nature, high theoretical gravimetric capacitance, and power in neutral aqueous electrolytes. In this work, a layered birnessite-type manganese dioxide (δ-MnO₂) is synthesized utilizing solid-state redox method with superoxide. The effects of temperature and oxidant amount on the physicochemical properties of δ-MnO₂ are characterized using Elemental Dispersion X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂-sorption, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The physiochemical properties that are specifically analyzed by varying synthesis conditions pertain to the chemical composition, morphology, and surface area …

Eulerian Walk And Dna Sequence Assembly, Yifan Zhu

Symposium of Student Scholars

Children like jigsaw puzzles, and the way to assemble the puzzle is by putting together pieces that match, one by one, till the puzzle is complete. DNA sequence assembly could be thought of as something similar: when a strand of DNA is passed into a particular “sequencing machine”, it gives a large number of short reads of the DNA sequence. This type of technology is called shotgun sequencing. These reads form the jigsaw pieces in the puzzle and one must put together these pieces in an intelligent way to obtain the original sequence. There is, however, a catch here; apriori, …

Anti-Vaxxers: Parents Fighting Science, Katie West

Symposium of Student Scholars

Immunizing children helps protect the health of our community, especially those people who cannot be immunized. Yet, since 1996 after a study was released that linked autism to vaccinations, there has been a trend of parents refusing to vaccinate their children. What are the demographics of the parents who believe their children are better off without vaccines? By knowing where these parents live and what decisions they make for their children’s education, counties and medical professionals can provide education and address their concerns.

My research involves data on 116,141 kindergarten classes from 2000-2015 in California. The two vaccine exemption options …

Why Does An Ex-Offender Reoffend?, Jacob Rybak

Symposium of Student Scholars

What leads to an offender to go back to prison? Iowa has collected data tracking recidivism to evaluate the effectiveness of its programs for released offenders. This data set includes the following for all of the offenders: age groups, type of release (parole vs being discharged at the end of their sentence), race, sex, year of release, supervising district, original offense, and whether they recidivated. For the offenders who return to prison, the data set includes measures on days to return, type of recidivism (technicality or new crime), and what the specific offense was that caused their return.

In the …

Opioid Abuse: Are Doctors Creating The Problem?, Nguyen Tran

Symposium of Student Scholars

Opioid abuse and overdose are serious health problems in the United States. Current research has concentrated on the treatment and prevention of opioid abuse. Using data from the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) for California zip codes, my research focuses on the causes of opioid overdose by considering the relationships between the following variables within each zip code: population size, average number of prescriptions per doctor, percentage of people who receive opioid prescriptions, percentage of people receiving the same prescription drug from 3 or more doctors, average number of opioid pills per prescription and number of people …

Market Research: How To Keep And Gain Customers, Chris Mccall

Symposium of Student Scholars

Customer-centered market research is essential to the creation and management of successful marketing campaigns. A company that understands their customers will be able to provide those customers with products and services that fit their needs better than the competition, and ultimately increase profits. My research focuses on a database containing customer information for a telecommunications company called Telco. Within this research, I will focus on a number of customer attributes including demographics, services provided, payment methods, contract lengths, monthly charges, and tenure with the company. Considering how these attributes relate to one another will give me a better understanding of …

Food Deserts: Hungry For Answers, Lawren Cumberbatch

Symposium of Student Scholars

In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 23.5 million people in the United States live in food deserts. As defined by the USDA, a “food desert” is a neighborhood that lacks healthy food sources. This can be measured by distance to a store, number of stores in an area, individual-level resources such as family income or vehicle availability, and neighborhood-level resources such as availability of public transportation. Past research provides evidence that food deserts are especially likely to occur in communities heavily populated by minorities. As a Black Indian pre-med student aiming to join the world …

Determining Malignancy: Can Mammogram Results Help Predict The Diagnosis Of Breast Tumors?, Taylor Behrens

Symposium of Student Scholars

Even with advancements in treatment and preventative care, breast cancer remains an epidemic claiming more than 40,000 American male and female lives each year. The mammogram dataset that I am analyzing was initially complied in the early 1990s by a team from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Past research diagnoses breast cancer from fine-needle aspirates. My research focuses on predicting whether we can determine breast cancer diagnoses without the use of invasive procedures and, in particular, whether we can predict breast cancer based on mammogram data. Do measures of gray-scale texture, radius, concavity, perimeter, compactness, area, and smoothness of …

Accidental Overdoses: Insights To Aid In Prevention, Annabel Nganga

Symposium of Student Scholars

Having lost a friend six years ago to an accidental cocaine overdose, I am very passionate about spreading awareness of accidental drug overdoses that have affected thousands of families countrywide. According to past research, deaths resulting from opiates specifically have been on the rise, and a significant number of deaths in the United States for those below fifty years are caused by drug overdoses. Data exists indicating which states have more overdoses. The data set I will be using includes variables on race, sex, age, drug with which person overdosed, location of the overdose, ultimate cause of death and year …

Death By Police: When “Protecting And Serving” Goes Wrong, Hesper Mallis

Symposium of Student Scholars

The recent cases of law enforcement using lethal force in the United States have gained massive public attention. My dataset is from the Mapping Police Violence website. The website’s focus was to create a heat map to display where police killings occurred most frequently. The website has a dataset with information on 7,664 deaths of suspects. The variables in the dataset include age, sex and race of the suspect; geographic location; alleged threat level; alleged weapon; cause of death; and criminal charges against the officer. In addition, the variables include whether the individual had a mental illness, was armed or …

Are There Predictors Of A Running Back’S Success?, Joshua Price

Symposium of Student Scholars

People who analyze football have concentrated in the past on a running back’s 40-yard dash, shuffle, broad jump, vertical jump, and bench press measures. My research will test if the following variables can predict a running back’s success in the NFL: height, weight, conference, offensive line ranking for their team, the running back’s total yards for the season, their average yards for each attempt, the number of times the running back has entered the end zone for a touchdown that season, the running back’s time average time behind the line of scrimmage (TLOS), the percentage of times the running back …

Sources And Aftermaths Of Pipeline Related Leaks And Spills, Justin Smith

Symposium of Student Scholars

The escape of oil and other hazardous materials have been shown to pollute and destroy ecosystems. As an aspiring chemist, I am adamant about the secure handling and transportation of oil and other hazardous materials. In the past, researchers have concentrated on oil’s high viscosity. Oil’s high viscosity physically smothers wildlife, affecting their ability to continue critical functions such as respiration, feeding, and thermoregulation. My research focuses on the source of these oil spills, as well as natural gas leaks, for the purpose of risk assessment. In addition, I compare recovery efforts based on the cause of the leak/spill, the …

On The Front Lines Of Fire: How Do We Save Their Lives?, Cathrine Jatta

Symposium of Student Scholars

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports that the United States depends on about 1.1 million firefighters to protect its citizens and property from fire. NIOSH adds that approximately 336,000 are career firefighters; 812,000 are volunteers; and 80 to 100 die in the line of duty each year. NIOSH investigates each fatality individually for the cause and prevention. In contrast, my research will look at a complete dataset of 2005 firefighter fatalities and see if any of the following variables may predict firefighter death: age, cause of death, property type, type of duty (e.g. on-duty, training), and …

Cervical Cancer: Are There Ways To Reduce The Risks?, Madelyn Dorn

Symposium of Student Scholars

History has shown us that when caught early, cervical cancer is curable. Past research has found that the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), herpes and human papillomavirus (HPV), have been associated with cervical cancer. In contrast, my dataset on 859 women has many more STDs and lifestyle choices compiled on 36 variables. The diagnoses in the dataset are many: cervical condylomatosis, vaginal condylomatosis, vulvo-perineral condylomatosis, syphilis, pelvic inflammatory disease, genital herpes, molluscum contagiosum, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B, HPV, and cervical cancer. In addition to the demographic variable on age, there are many lifestyle choice …

Marijuana Arrests In Toronto Canada: A Look Into The Canadian Criminal Justice System, Steven Tully

Symposium of Student Scholars

Marijuana related drug offenses made up fifty-eight percent of all Controlled Drugs and Substances Act offenses in Canada in 2016. On October 17, 2018, Canada legalized marijuana. As part of the efforts to legalize marijuana, descriptive statistics of single variables, like the age of the arrestees and the number of people arrested per year, were reported by the Toronto Star newspaper. The dataset analyzed in this research predates the legalization of marijuana and was collected from 1997 to 2002 on 5,226 individuals arrested in Toronto, Canada for simple possession of small quantities of marijuana. When an offender was arrested for …

Who Is Next? Evaluating Factors That May Contribute To Heart Failure, Davon Broadwater

Symposium of Student Scholars

Cardiovascular diseases are the number one causes of death globally, and for African Americans those risks are even higher. As an African American university student studying Biology, I am passionate about researching the diseases that affect my race. Current research states that behavioral factors such as obesity, tobacco use, unhealthy diet, and harmful use of alcohol should be avoided. I have chosen to research predictors of what helps patients survive if they already have heart failure. Heart failure develops gradually, where the heart becomes weaker over time and has trouble pumping blood to nourish the cells in the body. Data …

Eradicating Zebra Mussels: What Works?, Elijah Davies

Symposium of Student Scholars

The invasion of U.S lakes and rivers by the invasive species of zebra mussels called Dreissena polymorpha has caused catastrophic harm to the local ecosystem by reproducing and outcompeting native mussel species as well as harm to pipes leading into water sources by binding to surfaces and reproducing to the point that the mussels clog pipes. In addition, recreation areas must be closed due to the sharp shells making areas unusable. In the past, research has focused on individual molluscicides and their eradication of zebra mussels, as well as their effect on native flora and fauna. My research will contrast …

Energy Saving On Edges: State-Of-The-Art And Future Directions, Kousalya Banka

Symposium of Student Scholars

Internet of Things (IoT) comprises a set of devices that are interconnected ranging from our daily used objects to advanced networked devices. It is a constantly evolving phenomenon as the number of devices owned by the regular user is increasing at a rapid rate. These devices are used for various reasons such as social networking, monitoring, performing complex operations and with the increase of advanced technologies, they demand more energy to perform such tasks. Cloud computing enables these communications to seamlessly perform complex tasks in a cloud environment but utilizing these resources properly to perform at the best is the …

Bias In Police Shootings: Is It Just An Opinion?, Phuong Ho

Symposium of Student Scholars

The claims of racism have drawn public attention toward police brutality and its impact on minorities. Is this just an opinion or is there any statistical evidence? Recent studies from The Atlantic have investigated the average age and ethnicity of victims from police killings in 2015-2016. As an Asian-American, I am motivated to examine the issue of police killings among races and other demographics to find any bias that is present. Using the dataset of 2,204 victims of police killings (2015-2016) collected by The Guardian, I will examine the following variables for bias: age, cause of death, armed/unarmed, race/ethnicity, and …

Elucidation Of The Combination Bands And Anharmonic Features In The Vibrational Spectra Of C2o4h- And C2o4d- With Driven Classical Trajectories, Dalton Boutwell, Martina Kaledin

Symposium of Student Scholars

Hydrogen bonds are strong electrostatic interactions characterized by the anharmonic shift of vibrational modes of atoms involved with this intramolecular force. The low energy barrier of the H⁺ transfer in hydrogen oxalate (C₂O₄H^-), predicted to be ~2.98 kcal/mol at the MP2/aVDZ level of theory, allows for rapid proton exchange in the system and confounds the experimental vibrational spectrum of the molecule with broad spectral features in the O-H stretching region. The molecule is planar and exhibits several torsional motions among some of its lower frequency fundamental vibrational transitions. Because H-bonding and torsional motions …

Model Calculations Of H/D Isotope Substitution In Hydrogen Oxalate Anion Using The Normal Mode Analysis, Dominick Pierre-Jacques, Olivia Cochran, Dayana Salazar, Martina Kaledin

Symposium of Student Scholars

In this computational chemistry work, we describe ab initio calculations and assignment of infrared (IR) spectra of an intramolecular H-bonding system hydrogen oxalate, C₂O₄H^–. The study of H/D isotope effects can provide useful information on a proton’s location inside a non-linear pathway. In C₂O₄H^–, a normal mode analysis was performed at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ and B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ levels of theory. Previous experimental studies suggest a frequency shift ~1000 cm^-1 for the OH stretch mode upon the H/D isotopic substitution. Isotope calculations resulted in a shift of 842 cm^{-1 …}

Solid State Synthesis Of Chiral Magnetic Alloys, Connor Quick

Symposium of Student Scholars

Solid State Synthesis of Chiral Magnetic Alloys

Connor Quick, Chetan Dhital

The cubic magnetic alloys such as MnSi, FeGe, and MnSi crystallize in non-centrosymmetric chiral crystal structure. Due to the combination of non-centrosymmetric structure and the magnetism, these magnetic alloys lead to the discovery of new type of magnetic configurations called magnetic skyrmion in certain temperature and field ranges. Such magnetic skyrmions are considered to provide energy efficient and high storage capacity alternatives to currently used domain wall based random access memory. There are two major problems in this field of research: (a) availability of limited number of materials (b) …

Do Environmental Toxins Predict Violent Crimes?, Tyler Stahl

Symposium of Student Scholars

Do chemical pollutants that persistent in the environment and bioaccumulate in the body affect human health and behavior? Could these Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic (PBT) chemicals play a role in the cause of violent crimes due to deterioration of mental and cognitive functions? In the past, Mercury, a PBT chemical, has been shown in salmon to be associated with aggression. Could similar aggression occur in humans exposed to mercury through a toxic spill? Two sources of data are utilized in this analysis. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Annual Toxic Release Inventory publishes data on toxic releases into the environment and …

Soil Bacteria: Metabolic Diversity In A Wildlife Management Area, Nicholas Green

Symposium of Student Scholars

This research is part of a larger study linking the soil microbiome and processes to the aboveground plant community.

Soil samples were collected from six plots under closed canopy in the Sheffield Wildlife management area in the Piedmont ecoregion of Georgia in Paulding County. Two of the plots were located in the longleaf pine savanna where restoration of longleaf pine has been in place since 2010. Samples were collected in sterile plastic tubes at the center of each plot and 10 meters above and below the center. For each sample, soil pH and the concentration of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), …